Christian Research Journal – Christian Research Institutehttp://www.equip.org
EQUIP, Christian Research Institute, The Bible Answer Man, Equip AppThu, 17 Aug 2017 23:47:02 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.835687637Truth, Urban Legends, and “Isms”http://www.equip.org/audio/truth-urban-legends-and-isms/
http://www.equip.org/audio/truth-urban-legends-and-isms/#respondWed, 17 Jun 2009 20:41:00 +0000http://simonwebdesign.com/cri/beta/audio/truth-urban-legends-and-isms/I’d like to take just a minute to discuss the topic of truth. Under the guise of truth, Christians have communicated such things as the legend of Darwin’s deathbed conversion, defended the historicity of the Gospels through forgeries as the Pilate letter, or argued for the inspiration of Scripture on the basis of imbedded […]]]>

I’d like to take just a minute to discuss the topic of truth.

Under the guise of truth, Christians have communicated such things as the legend of Darwin’s deathbed conversion, defended the historicity of the Gospels through forgeries as the Pilate letter, or argued for the inspiration of Scripture on the basis of imbedded Bible codes. They’ve also employed sloppy journalism to circulate an endless variety of resurrection stories.

This kind of creative story telling is pandemic, not just today in Christianity; it is pandemic in the broader culture. It runs the gamut from NBC and their report on exploding General Motors trucks all the way to such things as Jane Roe and her fabricated story of rape, which by the way was encouraged by pro-abortion leaders and became instrumental in the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 decision known as Roe v. Wade.

Look, in an age in which internet fabrications “travel halfway around the world before truth has had a chance to put its boots on,” the Apostle Paul in his words in Ephesians ring through the centuries with urgency as we as Christians are called to “stand firm with the belt of truth buckled around your waist.” (Eph 6:14). Your waist is the center of your body, so too truth is central to a biblical worldview.

So often we ask what is truth? The reason we are asking that question is postmodern people are staring at truth and yet failing to recognize its identity. Truth, in its final analysis is an aspect of the nature of God himself. In other words, to put on the belt of truth is to put on Christ because Christ is truth (John 14:6) and we as Christians are called to be witnesses or bearers of truth.

Christianity is not right because it work pragmatically, or feels right subjectively or because it’s “my truth” relativistically. It’s true because it’s anchored in the objective verity of Jesus Christ. The Christian faith as Os Guinness has once said isn’t true because it works; it works because it’s true. It’s not true because we experience it; we experience it because it is true. It’s not simply “true for you.” It’s true for any one who seeks in order to find “because truth is true even if nobody believes it” and a falsehood is false even if everyone holds to it. That’s why truth doesn’t yield to opinion or fashion or about being politically correct. It’s anchored in the very one who spoke and the limitless galaxies leapt into existence.

Truth is at its core essential to a realistic worldview. The moment we drop the belt of truth, our view of reality becomes seriously skewed. When its buckle breaks reality becomes clouded and the unthinkable becomes normal. We live in that kind of a milieu today. This is actually precisely why we’ve developed a little resource called What is Truth? The Best of the Christian Research Journal. You can pick up a copy at our Website of www.equip.org or calling us at 1-888-700-0274.

For further information see my entry in The Complete Bible Answer Book, Question 127 Did Darwin Have a Deathbed Conversion?

The Archko Volume, compiled by W.D. Mahan, which contains all manner of fictional documents purporting the perspective of Jesus’ contemporaries, including Joseph and Mary, Herod Antipas, and Caiaphas. For the classic refutation, see Edgar J. Goodspeed, Modern Apocrypha: Famous “Biblical” Hoaxes (Boston: The Beacon Press, 1956).

Time For Truth (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2000), 39. Guinness notes that these exploding trucks were later “acknowledged to be planned detonations” not accidents.

to Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Time for Truth, 79-80.

]]>http://www.equip.org/audio/truth-urban-legends-and-isms/feed/07647Word of Faith Revisionismhttp://www.equip.org/audio/word-of-faith-revisionism/
http://www.equip.org/audio/word-of-faith-revisionism/#respondTue, 16 Jun 2009 20:22:00 +0000http://simonwebdesign.com/cri/beta/audio/word-of-faith-revisionism/The current issue of the Christian Research Journal cover story is Christianity in Crisis 21st Century. The book was released this month so that’s the feature article. Have you ever wondered why prosperity preachers redefine faith as a force? Why they attempt to talk devotees into believing that Adam was an exact duplicate of God—no […]]]>

The current issue of the Christian Research Journal cover story is Christianity in Crisis 21st Century. The book was released this month so that’s the feature article.

Have you ever wondered why prosperity preachers redefine faith as a force? Why they attempt to talk devotees into believing that Adam was an exact duplicate of God—no difference, no distinction? Why perpetuate the pretext that every born-again person is as much an incarnation as was Jesus Christ of Nazareth? What’s the point?

Well, the answer may surprise you. Turning the Gospel of grace into a gospel of greed takes a complete revision of what Faith preachers describe as “traditional Christianity.” Jesse Duplantis is a classic case in point. Addressing Cornerstone pastor and televangelist John Hagee, Duplantis explains that God is his comforter “because when you got some stuff, it brings you comfort.” Jesse’s reasoning is remarkable to put it mildly.

After clarifying that he is not just a millionaire but a multimillionaire, Jesse says to Hagee, “The Lord, I give him the glory, is my comforter. If he is my comforter, Dr. Hagee, I live in comfort. That’s not only spiritually—that’s physically too. Because when you’ve got some stuff it brings you comfort.” Jesse goes on to pontificate that those who would say otherwise “know nothing about the Bible.” With great aplomb he claims to quote Jesus saying, “The destruction of the poor is their poverty” and challenges those who “know nothing about the Bible” to “explain that!”[1] Talk about biblical revisionism!

Jesus warned, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” (Luke 12:15). The Lord then told His disciples the parable of the rich fool who was looking to his possessions for security (vv. 16–21). Jesus did not condemn possessions, but instead pointed out the foolishness of a temporary rather than an eternal perspective. Not mincing words, Jesus quoted His Father as saying to the rich man, “You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you” (v. 20). The Master’s command was always the same: “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you (Matt. 6:33).

How unlike the message of Duplantis and company! They relentlessly hawk the idea that prosperity is the divine right of every believer—a brand of “Christianity” that is little more than baptized greed garbed in a thin veneer of “Christianese.”

Instead, Jesus said, “Woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort. Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry” (Luke 6:24–25). As such, His message is the inverse of that of Duplantis, who pontificates that “poverty is a curse,”[2] or of Hagee who likewise communicates that “poverty is a curse” and that “it is the result of sin.”[3]

Christianity In Crisis 21st Century explores a brand new cadre of faith teachers who have rock star platforms and they command the attention of media moguls. They have platforms that the old faith teachers in the 20th century could only have dreamed of. Their message is proliferating like wild fire. It’s all about having faith in your faith instead of having faith in your God. It is a complete distortion of the biblical message and it is now so pervasive that I had to write Christianity In Crisis 21st Century to combat the errors that have gone through a metamorphosis, and have in fact gone from bad to worse. Error begets error and heresy begets heresy and that is precisely what has happened in the faith movement.

To get your copy of the current Christian Research Journal and Christianity In Crisis 21st Century please check out our website at www.equip.org or call us at 1-888-700-0274.

]]>http://www.equip.org/audio/word-of-faith-revisionism/feed/07622Whose Ethics? Whose Morals?http://www.equip.org/audio/whose-ethics-whose-morals/
http://www.equip.org/audio/whose-ethics-whose-morals/#respondFri, 12 Jun 2009 18:32:00 +0000http://simonwebdesign.com/cri/beta/audio/whose-ethics-whose-morals/I would like to alert you to a brand new resource we have here at CRI. It’s a book entitled Whose Ethics? Whose Morals? The Best of the Christian Research Journal. At first blush, reading a book like this might seem to be a little more than an academic exercise. In reality, it is a […]]]>

I would like to alert you to a brand new resource we have here at CRI. It’s a book entitled Whose Ethics? Whose Morals? The Best of the Christian Research Journal. At first blush, reading a book like this might seem to be a little more than an academic exercise. In reality, it is a matter of survival. Imagine living in a country in which members of Congress could mandate researchers to either destroy embryos or risk imprisonment. Imagine a nation that not only permits the killing of the most vulnerable among us but mandates such mayhem for the purposes of research. Imagine no further––that day has arrived. As the former Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork has well said in a book by the same moniker, we have began inexorably “slouching toward Gomorrah.”[1]

Truth is the founders of our Republic could only in their darkest nightmares have imagined relativism trumping objective moral standards in a free society. Maybe the credo of Nazi Germany of “might makes right” is something we should look at again. Ethics and morals were not determined on the basis of an objective standard but on the basis of raw power and blind bigotry. With no enduring reference point, societal norms were quickly reduced to mere matters of preference and power.

As smoke from crematoriums wafted over steeples in the German countryside, another evil reared its ugly head. Pastors and their parishioners remained strangely silent. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, however, was not among them. “If we claim to be Christians,” he said, “there is no room for expediency.”[2] Thus he stood not only against the evils of the Nazi war machine but against the confessional church more concerned with survival than moral and ethical realities on the ground. “When Christ calls a man, “said Bonhoeffer, “He bids him come and die.”[3] On April 9, 1945, just days before liberation, Bonhoeffer experienced the ultimate “cost of discipleship.”

Thankfully, most Christians in the twenty-first century have not had to make a comparable sacrifice for truth. Without the leavening power of a biblical worldview, fascism might well again hold sway. There is a razor thin edge between fascism and freedom. As such, I want you to consider engaging in three essentials.

First, pray. Without God’s blessing we are impotent in the battle to restore a biblical perspective respecting morals and ethics.

Second, share what you have learned on the Bible Answer Man broadcast and through our ministry with your family members and friends. Share this book with some of them also. One of the greatest blights of the twenty-first century is that we seldom engage in meaningful conversations. Instead we have become masters at entertaining ourselves to death.

Finally, stand with a ministry that is making an impact in the battle for truth. Through a variety of ministry outreaches the Christian Research Institute is making a strategic difference while there is yet time. Each year growing numbers of men, women and children around the globe are jettisoning relativism for a relationship with a moral law-giver who has loved them with an everlasting love. Such abundant, abiding fruit is not harvested by accident. Outside the walls of CRI an army of saints stand with us as co-laborers in a one-of-a-kind ministry. If you are ready to join the ranks, give us a call at 1-888-700-0274 or visit our Website at www.equip.org

]]>http://www.equip.org/audio/whose-ethics-whose-morals/feed/07645What Is Truth?http://www.equip.org/audio/what-is-truth/
http://www.equip.org/audio/what-is-truth/#respondTue, 09 Jun 2009 17:42:00 +0000http://simonwebdesign.com/cri/beta/audio/what-is-truth/It will come as no surprise to even semi-alert observers that truth as we have known it is under siege. It is being assailed on multiple fronts by a seemingly endless barrage of isms; such as postmodernism, relativism, experientialism, hedonism, and philosophical naturalism to name, just a few. To many Christians, truth has apparently […]]]>

It will come as no surprise to even semi-alert observers that truth as we have known it is under siege. It is being assailed on multiple fronts by a seemingly endless barrage of isms; such as postmodernism, relativism, experientialism, hedonism, and philosophical naturalism to name, just a few.

To many Christians, truth has apparently become less and less defensible, either because they perceive that truth has become so deconstructed, relative, subjective, and vaporized that—like Humpty Dumpty—they don’t know if it can ever be put back together again, or they believe—perhaps tactically more than rationally—that objective truth exists, but they are simply bewildered and befuddled as how to defend their convictions and instincts.

This is where the Christian Research Institute and the Bible Answer Man broadcast come in. It’s where serious Christians can make a difference by knowing where you stand, by standing your ground and, I think perhaps more importantly than anything else, by standing together. Not standing on the perennial shifting sands of cultural and intellectual fashion nor on porous platitudes of politically correct secularists whose only God is tolerance. The Christian faith stands on the unshakeable rock of revelation.

What all Christians must grasp, while truth is under siege, is that God hasn’t called us to sit for truth, he’s called us to stand for truth. Let’s make no mistake. With truth under siege, this isn’t time for impartiality, indifference or ignorance. This also is certainly not a time for cowardice. It’s a time for righteous revolutionaries or “sanctified saboteurs”[1] as C.S. Lewis said, for people willing to stand their ground because they’ve witnessed the deadly consequences when godless ideologies are not halted in their tracks.

The Twentieth Century alone witnessed the deaths of millions of people through Hitler’s “Final Solution,” Stalin’s bestial genocide, and Mao’s ruthless purges, revealing with painful clarity that when truth dies, countless millions of lives are often consumed in the wake.

As more and more of Western civilization moves precariously toward the brink of incoherence due to the slow death of objective truth, it is clear that we must not only know where we stand and stand our ground, but we must stand together. We must recognize the assaults on truth before we can resist them.

If you recognize that truth is under siege, and that heresy advances as orthodoxy retreats, there are some options. You can make a difference by first studying. Second pray, to attempt to stand against today’s assaults on truth without the power of prayer is sheer folly. Third, consider standing with the Christian Research Institute and the Bible Answer Man broadcast. If you’re not already a member of the Bible Answer Man support team you can go to our website at www.equip.org or call us at 1-888-7000-0274. Finally, whether it’s listening to the Bible Answer Man broadcast, subscribing to the Christian Research Journal, purchasing life-changing resources from our online e-store, or supporting CRI’s work financially or with prayer, every “enlistment” in the army for truth helps to shift the tide of battle. For any donation to the support of our work we would be happy to send a book we have produced as a thank you gift. It’s appropriately named What is Truth? You can get your copy by going to our website at www.equip.org or calling us at 1-888-7000-0274.

]]>http://www.equip.org/audio/what-is-truth/feed/07643Do Mark and Luke Contradict on the Death of Jesus?http://www.equip.org/audio/do-mark-and-luke-contradict-on-the-death-of-jesus/
http://www.equip.org/audio/do-mark-and-luke-contradict-on-the-death-of-jesus/#respondWed, 15 Apr 2009 18:26:00 +0000http://simonwebdesign.com/cri/beta/audio/do-mark-and-luke-contradict-on-the-death-of-jesus/The day before Good Friday on The Colbert Report Bart Ehrman attempted to demonstrate that the Gospels of Mark and Luke stand in hopeless contradictions to one another with respect to the death of Jesus Christ.[1] Ironically, Tom Krattenmaker notes Ehrman’s claims on this same issue in USA Today on April 13th, 2009.[2] Ehrman makes […]]]>

The day before Good Friday on The Colbert Report Bart Ehrman attempted to demonstrate that the Gospels of Mark and Luke stand in hopeless contradictions to one another with respect to the death of Jesus Christ.[1] Ironically, Tom Krattenmaker notes Ehrman’s claims on this same issue in USA Today on April 13th, 2009.[2] Ehrman makes the following charge: “In Mark’s Gospel, for example, Jesus goes to His death in deep agony, over what’s happening to him, and doesn’t seem to understand why it’s happening to Him.” Conversely, says, Ehrman, “When you read Luke’s Gospel, He’s not in agony at all.”[3]

Well, has Ehrman discovered the crux of the matter? Are Mark and Luke irreconcilable at odds with respect to the death of Jesus Christ? I think not. To suggest that in Mark’s account of the crucifixion Jesus doesn’t seem to understand what is happening to Him is more than a little baffling. Even a child reading through Mark’s words knows better than to think such a thing. Who can forgot Christ’s poignant defense of Mary after she’s broken an alabaster jar and poured perfume on the head of Jesus Christ. “She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial” says Jesus (Mark 14:8). Or His anguished prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane “Abba, Father, everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” (Mark 14:36).

Indeed, as Mark’s gospel makes crystal clear, Jesus knew precisely what would happen to Him and, of course, He knew precisely why. As He explained it during the last supper, “This is my blood of thecovenant, which is poured out for many,” (Mark 14:24), or as He put it just prior to entering Jerusalem, the Son of Man came “to give His life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). Jesus had in fact repeatedly predicted His suffering, His life, His death, His resurrection, and to say otherwise is both a insult to Christ and common sense.

Furthermore, it’s almost beyond belief that a scholar with the kind of prestige that Bart Ehrman has wrestling with the text of Scripture would conclude that Christ in Luke’s Gospel—as Ehrman put it on Colbert—is “not in agony at all.”[4] As documented by Doctor Luke, Christ’s torment started in the Garden of Gethsemane after the emotional Last Supper. There Jesus experienced a medical condition known as hematidrosis. Tiny capillaries in His sweat glands ruptured, mixing sweat and blood. As a result, Christ’s skin became extremely fragile.[5] As Luke’s gospel says, “being in anguish, He prayed more earnestly, and His sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.”(Luke 22:44) Subsequently He’s arrested, He’s beaten and He’s executed in grotesque and humiliating fashion. The Roman system of crucifixion has been fine-tuned to produce maximum pain. In fact, the word excruciating (literally “out of the cross”) had to be invented to fully codify its horror.[6] To tell Colbert and vicariously the world that in Luke’s Gospel Jesus is not in agony at all, takes more than just a little gall on the part of Ehrman.

Finally, allow me to drive a nail into the heart of Ehrman’s methodology. Unless biographers such as Mark and Luke say exactly the same thing in exactly the same way, Ehrman stands ready to crucify them on the pretext of contradiction. Here’s how he restates the shop worn charge on the television broadcast; “And what people have done, is they’ve taken Mark’s Gospel and Luke’s Gospel and combined them together to one big Gospel, which is unlike either Mark or Luke.”[7] That is, of course, precisely what biographers do and for good reason. The very nature of biography is to pick and choose elements of a congruent story that one wishes to emphasize. As such no single biographer captures every detail of a subject’s life and experience. Indeed one of the most amazing realities with respect to the composite biography presented through the Gospel writers is that they were empowered to present a living portrait of the most interesting, complex, and significant being who has ever walked among us and that without contradiction or the possible charge of collusion and they do it with such eloquence and eradiation.

Well to answer the question, was Jesus in agony on the cross as per Mark and not as per Luke? The answer is there is no contradiction. Together the accounts along with John and Matthew give us the whole story wonderfully balanced, eradiate, glorious, and ultimately a story by which we can be saved.

We live in an epic of time in which our faith is being systematically attacked, vilified, ridiculed, and marginalized. In this epic of time we are going to continue to make it known on the Bible Answer Man radio broadcast, the Christian Research Journal, and our Website, www.equip.org, that the Bible is not hopelessly contradictory but it is indeed divine as opposed to merely human in origin. We thank all of you who stand with this ministry prayerfully and financially so that we can go out to the world each and every day countering claims that contradict and denigrate the Bible. For further information on supposed Bible contradictions, please see my Complete Bible Answer Book.

[5] All medical data and descriptions concerning Christ’s suffering are adapted from C. Truman Davis, “The Crucifixion of Jesus: The Passion of Christ from a Medial Point of View,” Arizona Medicine (March 1965): 183-187; and William D. Edwards, Wesley J. Gabel, and Floyd E. Hosmer, “On The Physical Death of Jesus Christ,” The Journal of the American Medical Association (21 March 1986): 1455-63.